Fixing the running game has been one of Pete Carroll’s foremost goals this offseason with the Seattle Seahawks.

Seattle was woefully inept running the ball last season. J.D. McKissic was the only Seahawks’ running back to score a rushing touchdown last season. Eddie Lacy was wholly ineffective Customized New England Patriots Jerseys , and Chris Carson and C.J. Prosise were both sidelined with injuries for most of the season.

The Seahawks have changed offensive line coaches and offensive coordinators this offseason, selected Rashaad Penny with their first-round draft pick and made it a priority to reintroduce a fullback into their offense to a greater extent. With the number of changes that have been made this offseason, Carroll believe they are on the right track to getting their running game back in order.

鈥淲ell, I鈥檓 really excited about that and that鈥檚 part of, it just feels different, just to have everybody healthy and out there working and all,” Carroll said following practice on Thursday. “We鈥檝e had really high hopes for C.J. and we鈥檝e seen Mike Davis play really good for us and we got excited about J.D. McKissic and now to see Chris back out there in really extraordinary condition, he鈥檚 had a tremendous offseason, and then add Rashaad in there as well. It鈥檚 just a really fine group and very versatile”

The Seahawks averaged just 3.3 yards per carry for the year, which was the worst output of any team in the league. Seattle also had 15.6 percent of all carries on the year go for negative yardage. Additionally, Seattle鈥檚 running backs had just 17 yards on 34 carries with no touchdowns and one converted first down inside an opponent’s 20-yard line.

Inside the 10-yard line, the Seahawks had a total of 23 carries for zero yards and two 1-yard Russell Wilson touchdown runs.

Getting Carson and Prosise back healthy would go a long way toward stabilizing Seattle’s backfield. Both players are healthy and taking part in OTAs despite having their seasons ended due to injury. Penny also adds a top talent to the group that is expected to be able to contribute as a receiver and potential kick returner as well.

“There鈥檚 really kind of no restrictions on what they can do in terms of catching the ball and getting out of the backfield and the kicking game and all kinds of stuff. It鈥檚 a really good group and again, it helps that they鈥檙e all healthy. It keeps their reps down and hopefully we can keep marching forward in a positive way and just keep growing. It is really the source of my excitement to see all those guys together because we鈥檝e needed them. It鈥檚 been two years really not having a group all together so it鈥檚 pleasing.鈥?/p>

The positives for Seattle is that it’s difficult to get much worse than they worse a season ago. Improvement on the ground should certainly be expected this year. How much it will improve remains to be seen.

MIAMI — The Carolina Hurricanes officially were eliminated from playoff contention on Saturday. The Florida Panthers are still alive, but they have taken several body blows of late.

On Monday night, the Panthers (39-30-8) will host the Hurricanes (35-33-11) at the BB&T Center. The game means virtually nothing in the standings for Carolina Authentic Jaleel Scott Jersey , but it will be crucially important for the Panthers.

This will be the first Panthers home game since returning from a disastrous 1-2-1 road trip in which the last three games ended in defeat, one of them in overtime. A slow start this season — the Panthers ranked 28th in the league in points as of Jan. 30 — has left Florida with little margin for error as it tries to chase down the final wild-card playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.

Florida is seven points behind New Jersey (42-28-9) for the final wild-card spot.

“Two points are what matter the most for us in the race we’re in,” Panthers coach Bob Boughner told the media. “We’ve had too many lapses in our game. Our starts haven’t been good. The No. 1 thing is we have to commit to have more maturity in our game. We have to manage the game better.”

Meanwhile, the Hurricanes are likely just now coming to grips with the fact that they have missed the playoffs for the ninth straight year, the longest such active streak in the NHL.

The Hurricanes entered this season with much hope. Scott Darling was brought in from the Chicago Blackhawks to be their No. 1 goalie, but he has been outplayed by veteran mainstay Cam Ward, who will be a free agent after this season.

Similarly, winger Justin Williams, 36, was brought in from the Washington Capitals, where he had 24 goals last season. Unfortunately for the Hurricanes, he has not been a difference-maker, scoring just 15 goals, perhaps showing his age.

As Carolina’s ends the fourth season with general manager Ron Francis and coach Bill Peters in charge, the Hurricanes are left to try to play spoilers while ownership ponders the future direction of their management team.

“It’s been a grind for quite a while here Brock McGinn Jersey Kids ,” Peters told the media following playoff elimination. “We had more expectations — higher and realistic expectations.”

On the other side on Monday night will be the Panthers, who a couple of weeks ago were listed as having a 75-percent playoff probability. Now they are down to just 14 percent per hockeyreference.com.

The Panthers have just five games left, and they pretty much have to win them all. The good news for Florida is that four of them are at home. But the bad news is that three of them are against league heavyweights — the Nashville Predators and home and home against the Boston Bruins.

Florida will rely heavily on its two All-Star centers, Alexsander Barkov, who has 26 goals and leads the team with 75 points; and Vincent Trocheck, who leads the team with 30 goals and has 71 points. Barkov was an All-Star this year. Trocheck made the team last year but is having another great season.

Two other Panthers forwards have impressive scoring totals: Jonathan Huberdeau has 25 goals and 67 points; and Evgenii Dadonov has 26 goals and 60 points.